LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LVII, Issue LVII, 28 April 1910, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Mana sailed from "Wellington for Patea a-t 5 p.m. on Wednesday., It is stated that a quarter of a million of money is coming from Australia shortly for the development of goldmining in the Hokitika district. All interested in a Coursing Club for Hawera and district are invited to attend the adjourned inaugural meeting, which takes place in the Fire Brigade Station on Friday evening. The Metropolitan Assembly held another of their enjoyable dances on Wednesday evening, when there were between 50 and 60 couples present. Mr J. Watta was M.C., and excellent music was supplied by Moosman's orchestra. The popularity of moving pictures was evidenced in a very practical manner one evening last week in Christchurch, when the Tramway Board was called upon to provide thirteen extra cars to accommodate picture patrons. Mr J. Wood stated that over 3000 extra passengers were carried. The well-imown firm of sawmillers Messrs Parkes and Brookcr, who recently closed at Awatuna through being cut out, have secured a large block of land on the Kiri road, and are now busy moving their plant. The firm estimate that they have ten years' cutting. The dry season that has been experienced in North Otago and Southland has resulted in the potato crops being of much better quality and freer from blight than has been the case since this scourge first became manifest. , From these two ports considerable shipments are being made to Auckland. At the time of the recont rain that damaged grain considerably, a North Canterbury farmer sold his wheat standing in stook to a grain buyer at 3s per bushel, a condition being that the farmer was to stack the grain for two months. The crop is estimated to yield 500 bushels, and a good deal of interest is being taken in the result of the deal. Threshing is practically completed in North Canterbury, leaving very large stocks in the hands of farmers, who apparently prefer to hold than to realise at present prices. As in most parts of fhe Dominion, the yields have been overestimated, and in most cases have proved disappointing. As an instance it may bo mentioned that the average wheat yield at Lincoln College, which at one time promised to be much more, is 41 bushels, reports a Southern contemporary. Official notice has been received from the Minister of Internal Affairs with regard to the shooting season to the effect that the Hawera Acclimatisation Society's district has not been exempted from the provisions of section 26 of the Animals' Protection Act, 1908, which l states that the year 1910, and every , third year thereafter, shall be a close • season for imported game (other than 1 deer) and native game. It is ; therefore, , a close season in this district. A reward of £10 is offered by the Society to anyone securing a conviction of any ; person found shooting in this district during the season. We understand there is considerable difficulty in securing football referees this season (says the Carterton News). This can hardly be wondered at. A referee has as much running about as the players, and has to have full knowledge of the rules and absolute promptness in applying them. His reward in most instances is abuse and charges of partiality. "Oh, we had to play the referee as well as the team," is a not unusual commeni after a hard-fought match. The natural result is coming about, and good men can hardly be induced to take on the worse than thankless office of referee. If the tendency so noticeable in some parts of the Dominion last year of defying atid hooting referees continues to grow, the time will soon arrive when only men well paid to stand the abuse will take the whistle. In a letter lately received by Mr G. Laurenson, M.P., from Dr Chappie, member for Stirlingshire in the House of Commons^ the writer makes some remarks upon the recent flections which are of interest to New Zealanders. What impressed him most, he writes, was the enthusiasm of the Scotch in favor of the present Ministry. The threat of encroachment by the House of Lords upon the rights of the people seemed to arouse all the democratic instincts of the Scots. But everything in. Great Britain, as far as electoral matters were concerned, appeared to be in favor of the rich ; and the voice of the poor was practically stifled. The electoral disabilities prevalent would make the hair of a New Zealand democrat stand on end. Dr Chappie further expressed the opinion that if the necessary electoral reforms were passed into law, so as to place Great Britain upon a level with New Zealand, the cause of Toryism in the ! kingdom would be "dead beyond hope of resurrection." Mr F. P. Corkill writes to the Taranaki Herald: — "Within about fortyeight hours we have had two fires in the central part of our town, and it is almost a miracle that the most valuable part of the Devon street blocks has not been wiped out and the Sash and Door Company's factory and yards utterly destroyed. People are now wondering how these two outbreaks originated and all sorts of theories are propounded. On Saturday night I was coming into town and noticed three young men walking on the opposite side o*f Devon street. One of them knocked out the contents of his pipe, and immediately several small masses of fire went rolling alono; the footpath for some distance, until they were blown under the remains of the fenc-e on the corner section. Lasb night I saw the same thing occur when a young man going into the Technical School emptied his pine at tho foot of the steps and the live fire was blown across tho street into tlio forn on the railway land next Mrs Webber's house. Again, one or two mornings ago, I went into a draper's shop and was served by a young man who was smoking a cigarette. When it was nearly consumed he dropned the stumr> on to thp floor, put his foot on it, and continued his work. Not one of these smokers thought of the possible harm which might result from his careless act. But when a fire docs occur we all wonder how it happened." For Chronic Chest Complaints, Woods' Great Peppermint Cure, Is 6d, 2s 6d.— Advt.

The Winter Show Company have re- j ccived several offers from skating rink j proprietors requesting leases ot ' the , Winter Show buildings. The directors, ' however, have decided to run the skating rink in the interests of the company. Two hundred pair of skates will be landed from New York about June. Many people have a strong aversion to toll-gates. It is just as well, however, to recognise that the toll-gates are legalised revenue-producers, and to pay the fee to tho gatekeeper without demur and as cheerfully as may bo. In a case before the Hawera Court the other day, although the amount recovered as toll-gate fee was only Is 6d, the costs to tho defendant totalled £3 4s. The Waverley A. and P. Association started the year's work with a credit balance of £58. After all expenses of tho March show were paid they would have in hand £66. The show only returned a profit of £8. There are yet to come in £9 outstanding in subscriptions. Tho apparent discrepancy in the profits of this year as compared with last year is accounted for by the fact that the prize money had been increased by £40, und that there had been an increased expenditure of £20. New Plymouth is considering a scheme for"tho installation of an up-to-date- electrical tram service. The estimated cost of a Fitzroy-Motorua line is £40,000, and the estimated deficiency £50 per annum. A branch lino to Vogeltown would cost £12,200, and there was no prospect of it paying; j neither, it was thought, would other suggested branches be profitable. The Borough Council is to be asked to take up the tramway proposal as a municipal concern. The following have recently donated special prizes to tho South Taranaki Winter Show: — H. Caplen, Hawera, £1 Is ; Northern Roller Flour Mills, two 501b bags flour; The Weekly Press and Otago Witness, one year's subscription; W. A. Parkinson (Hawera), F. H. Boase (Hawera), and Union Steam Ship Company, £2 2s each ; Dresden Piano Co., £1 Is worth music ; L. O. Hooker (Hawera), £1 Is; — . Cummings (Hawera), 10s 6d; C. Goodson (Hawera), £1 Is; E. T. B. Worthy (Hawera), 10s 6d; Harrison and Co. (Hawera), two 501b bags flour; Messrs L. D. Natnan and Co., 71b box tea; Kempthorne, Prosser and Co., four bags artificial manure, value £2; W. Rowe, 15s worth artificial manure. At last week's meeting of the North Canterbury executive of the New Zealand Farmers' Union (says th© Lyrtteltoti Times), Mr C. H. Ensor remarked that the recent conference concerning the frozen meat trade seemed to have I been forgotiten, except by the newspapers, which kept the matter before the farmers in a quiet way. He quoted several cable messages that had appeared in the papers to enforce his argument that the American trusts were manipulating the London markets, and i were securine a lot of the New Zea1 land meat. He said ' that one message | had announced that 600,000,0001b of » meat was held in storage by the t American, trust. Swifts and Armours I were connected with that combine, and . , Swifts was a name that was well known ,i in New Zealand. Ifc was more than ■ probable that the trust had agents in New Zealand, and was making a lot more out of the trade than the farmers \ who were producing the meat. People had to pay about lOd or Is a pound ' for meat that was' landed in England ready to be placed in the hands of the ' consumer for 4d. There was no doubt that New Zealand meat was beinc sold ; under a different name. Farmers could t do a great deal to improve the trade, which was in the hands #of the merchants, in whose interest it was that it \ should be kept in the same groove. It is a curious fact that parents in. • Marton and Bulls districts seem pari ticularly unwilling to give their children the benefits of a secondary education, > while in the Taranaki province practic- \ ally all the children who pass Standard VI spend, at any rate, a short time in the secondary classes, says the Rangitikei Advocate. The number of pupils „ within reach — this is from schools within a radius of six miles-^-of Eltham, Hawera, and Patea District High Schools who passed the Sixth Standard in 1909 was 76, and of these 70 , proceeded to the secondary classes, in , the Marton and Bulls district the pupils who passed Standard VI numbered 49, but of these only 23 took advantage of the secondary classes avail- , able. A little further south at Feilding ; 33 out of a possible 42 were receiving secondary instruction. So that it seems \ that the neglect of higher education - can only be considered as a purely local , fashion. Enquiries concerning tlio 16,299 acres of land in the Hauraki Plains Settlement, to be opened for selection on Friday, May 13, have been so numerous that the Lands Department is providing over 2000 poster plans for distribution. Among the requests for posters and application forms were several from Dunedin, Westport, Greymouth, and other parts of the South Island. The Land Board will proceed to the Thames on Tuesday, May 17, in order to examine applicants before the ballot which takes place at 9 a.m. the following;n g; day at the Minors' Union Hall, Thames. Occupation, with right of purchase, is the tenure upon which the land is being offered, and preference will be given to landless applicants. No person under 17 years of age will be allowed to take part in the ballot, and the conditions provide that within seven years, improvements must be effected to tho land to the extent of £1 per acre on first-class lands, and 10s per acre on second-class lands.